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About

Overview

LEARNING AND BEHAVIOR, Seventh Edition, looks at learning as an evolutionary mechanism. Based on the theme that learning is a biological mechanism that aids survival, the book embraces a scientific approach to behavior, but is written in clear and engaging language. Chance's book is also filled with high-interest queries and examples that support student's learning and understanding. Students love this book--and actually read it.
Available with InfoTrac® Student Collections http://gocengage.com/infotrac.

Features and Benefits

Chance makes the points that learning is a biological mechanism (evolved modifiability) by which individuals cope with change, that changes in behavior are the products of biological and environmental events, and that the natural science approach is the best way to study behavior.

Discussion on the Rescorla-Wagner model is among the clearest available today.

The text emphasizes the "nature via (not versus) nurture" view and the co-dependency of ontogeny and phylogeny.

A practice quiz and review questions (without answers) appear at the end of each chapter. The absence of answers prompts students to think about and discuss the questions, which may result in interesting class discussions.

What's New

This edition incorporates increased coverage of research by evolutionary biologists, primatologists, ethologists, rehabilitation psychologists, developmental psychologists, and cognitive psychologists, as well as research completed outside of the United States.

The author places greater emphasis on the role of context in forgetting, and on the idea that forgetting may be largely a matter of stimulus control (a view taken by increasing numbers of psychologists).

Content is updated throughout the text, including more than 100 new references dated 2011 or later. New topics, among others, include evaluative conditioning, asocial observational learning, computer-based VRET, progressive schedules, and constraint-induced movement therapy.

Each chapter now ends with a brief section titled "A Final Word," prompting students to think about and discuss the implications of what they just read.

New illustrations, including photographs and sketches, illuminate the material and provide visual appeal.

Brief marginal notes that students are more likely to read, and consequently learn, have replaced footnotes.

Updated recommended reading lists include items of high interest to students, such as Hal Markowitz's ENRICHING ANIMAL LIVES, Susan Schneider's THE SCIENCE OF CONSEQUENCES, and articles in The New Yorker and other popular periodicals.

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Meet the Author

Author Bio

Paul Chance

Paul Chance received his Ph.D. in Psychology from Utah State University. He started his career as a school teacher (grades 7-9), and has been an Adjunct Instructor at the California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo and at Salisbury University (Maryland). Formerly, he was Book Review Editor of PSYCHOLOGY TODAY magazine, a senior fellow of the Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies, and a member of the Association for Science in Autism Treatment advisory board.

Paul Chance received his Ph.D. in Psychology from Utah State University. He started his career as a school teacher (grades 7-9), and has been an Adjunct Instructor at the California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo and at Salisbury University (Maryland). Formerly, he was Book Review Editor of PSYCHOLOGY TODAY magazine, a senior fellow of the Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies, and a member of the Association for Science in Autism Treatment advisory board.